The New Girl
by The Sorceress's Apprentice
Summary: One day on a hunting trip, Arthur, Merlin, and the knights meet a mysterious girl in the woods. She's one tough chick, but is she hiding something? Something that could get her killed? Rated T because I'm super paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin, although I wish I did. **

**This is my first fanfic, so I have no idea what to expect. Please review and tell me what I need to work on! And I tried my best to use correct grammar and spell correctly, but if there is anything wrong, please tell me! In this story, Arthur and Gwen are married, Arthur is king, and he doesn't know that Merlin has magic. Before anybody pulls out the duct tape, let's get on with it!**

Chapter 1

Merlin raced into the kitchen at his usual time to pick up the King's breakfast. Late. Again. He grabbed the plate of food and raced out the door again, ignoring the giggles of the servant girls behind him. After the last few years, he had developed a sort of routine. Wake up in a state of panic. Run. Grab breakfast. Run. Bring the food to Arthur. Practice dodging skills. Get on with the daily chores. Eat, if he was lucky. Run. More dodging practice. Save Arthur's life. Sleep. Wake up in a state of panic. And so on and so on.

Today was no exception. He barged into the king's chambers without knocking.

"Breakfast." He said, opening the blinds to let the light in.

"Merlin, I have a question for you." Arthur said, sitting up and stretching.

"What is it, milord?" Merlin asked nervously.

"Have you ever actually been on time?" Arthur said, giving Merlin his death stare.

"No, why would I?" Merlin replied, walking to the other side of the room to pick out what the king would wear for the day. The fact that the Once and Future King couldn't dress himself amused Merlin.

"Unless you count spending the day in the stocks as fun, you should probably change your attitude." The blonde remarked.

The dark haired boy rolled his eyes, turning back to face Arthur. "I'll add that to my list of chores."

"Speaking of which, here's what you need to do today….." Arthur said with an evil grin.

Merlin groaned inwardly as he listened to the seemingly never ending list of chores that awaited him.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Stop being such a girl, _Mer_lin. It's just another hunting trip. We go on them all the time." drawled Arthur, whacking him upside the head.

"Exactly," remarked Merlin, rubbing the back of his head, "We go on them all the time. Why do we need to go on another one? It's the same thing over and over again. Track, find, kill. Track, find, kill. Every single time!"

"That's why it's fun. You can't mess with tradition." Arthur countered. "Now stop complaining and saddle my horse. We leave in an hour."

"Of course we do," Merlin muttered to himself as Arthur walked away. He turned toward the stables to get ready for the overnight hunt.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"_Mer_lin!" Arthur whispered shouted towards his useless manservant.

"What?" Merlin called over in a loud voice, scaring away the deer that they had been tracking. Arthur jumped up, trying to shoot at least one of them. One of the arrows struck true, and a deer fell.

"You really are a complete _idiot _sometimes, Merlin." Arthur yelled, turning to the boy.

"Better than being a prat," Merlin replied calmly.

Arthur rolled his eyes, turning away from him, and towards the knights.

"Well done. We'll set up camp here and return to Camelot in the morning" Arthur said. The knights nodded and started to make camp. Arthur whipped around to Merlin, who stared back nonchalantly.

"And you. You are to make dinner," The king ordered.

Merlin put on a face of exaggerated innocence. "Don't I always?"

A few hours later, Merlin was putting away the last of the dinner dishes. The knights were deciding who would take the first watch.

"Fine, I'll take watch." relented Sir Leon, after quite of lot of pressuring from the others.

Arthur slapped him on the back good-naturally. "Good man."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Halt! Who are you? State your name and business!" the current guard (Elyan), yelled, waking the others up.

They quickly sprang into action, grabbing their swords and pointed them towards the intruder. Everyone that is, except Merlin. He just stood up and tried to look menacing, since apparently no one would trust him with a sword.

The figure froze, turning slightly, so that half of their face was illuminated eerily from the firelight.

They had even more pronounced cheekbones than Merlin, and they looked half starved. They were tall and lean, with a sword strapped visibly around their waist.

"Come now, there's no need for weapons. I'm just one little hungry girl who needs some food. You wouldn't hurt a girl, would you? You being nobles and all." the mysterious figure said. It sounded sweet, like she really _was _an innocent little girl. But something in her voice put them on edge. Clearly, she did not like being discovered.

Before anyone could respond, she whispered tauntingly, "It's unhonorable. And I know you nobles just _worship_ honor." By now, a lethal tone had crept into her voice.

A gasp came from the back of the group. Everyone turned to where the noise had come from. Merlin quickly pushed his way to the front of the group, ignoring the strange looks the others gave him. When he got to the front, he gasped again as he came face to face with the thief. The girl choked and stumbled back.

"_Merlin?"_

"_Ella__?"_

**Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's note: Sadly, I do not own Merlin.**

**I just wanted to give a big thanks to those that set my story as their favorite or are following my story. It means so much! Once again, I did my best to use correct spelling and grammar, but I am far from perfect. Please let me know of any mistakes I made. Please review! Curse me and my unending words. To glory!**

Chapter 2

The girl recovered before any of them. She slapped Merlin squarely across the face.

"That's for leaving," she barked.

She slapped him again.

"That's for not being there when I went back."

She slapped him again, and turned around to face the fire.

"What was that one for?" Merlin asked, rubbing his face.

"Hmm?" she replied, not turning around.

"All of those hits had a reason. What was the last one for?"

"Oh. That was because I wanted to. You're fun to smack, you know that?" she said with a laugh, sitting down to face them.

Arthur finally shook himself out of it.

"So, you two know each other?" he asked, lowering his sword.

The girl rolled her eyes. "No, never seen him before in my life. That's why I know his name and am yelling at him for leaving me."

She paused for a second, "You know for a noble, you really aren't that bright. You must be one of those knights where the only thing they know what to do is hold a sword and kill things."

"Excuse me?" Arthur said, shocked.

Gwaine laughed. "I can see why you and Merlin get along so well."

She smiled. "It must be something that Ealdor people have. The ability to actually be sort of interesting."

Gwaine laughed again. "I like you. I really do. What did you say your name was? Ella?"

Her smile faded. "My real name is Elesthra. But unless you like getting your tongue cut out, I suggest you call me Ella."

By now, the sun had passed some light through the treetops and they could see her clearly. Golden brown hair was braided over her right shoulder. Large, hazel eyes stared back at them intently. Her pronounced cheekbones made her look like she hadn't eaten in days. She was wearing a simple black tunic with brown leather leggings and dark boots. She had a sword sheathed on her left side, with several daggers strapped to the same belt. Clearly, she was a force to be reckoned with.

She stood up and clapped her hands together.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm starving. What's for breakfast?"

**Short I know, but that's what I've got! Please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: I'm so excited to finally be writing again! I just want to thank you again for all the followers, favorites, and reviews! I love seeing them in my emails! You guys are awesome! And once again, please tell me if I have any grammar or spelling mistakes. Enough idle chatter. To glory!**

Chapter 3

The others continued to stare at her. She just stared back, and finally rolled her eyes again.

"Don't everybody volunteer to make breakfast at once. Please, sit back, relax. Let the girl do the cooking. Because that's obviously what I'm best at."

She turned around.

"Men," she muttered.

She crouched down by the fire and started pulling various items from a bag that was attatched to her belt.

Merlin shook his head as if clearing it.

"Ella, don't bother. I'll make breakfast."

"No."

He laughed. "I forgot how stubborn you are. Let me do it, I don't mind. Really, it's fine."

"No."

"Why not?"

She finally faced him and gave him a condesending look, which would seem hard because she had to crane her neck to look into his face, but she did a very good job.

"Because, and I'm just guessing here, you're not a noble. And if you're not a noble, then you probably work for these idiots. Which means that you make breakfast all the time on these little trips. Am I right?"

He smiled, "Yeah, you're right. Like always. But I'm used to cooking breakfast, it's no big deal."

She closed her eyes and sighed, like she was talking to a child that was asking the same simple question over and over. She opened her eyes and looked at him again.

"Are you really going to argue with me over making breakfast?" Ella asked.

"Ok then, if you don't want to make breakfast, and you won't let me make breakfast, who do you plan on making it?"

She rolled her eyes again. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe the deer and birds will come and make us porridge. Or maybe, one of the men standing behind you could make it! There's an idea!"

Merlin turned around to face the knights, who were still looking rather confused. He studied them for a second, then faced Ella again.

"What, and die of food poisoning? Do you think any of them have cooked anthing in their entire life?"

"Excuse me!" Arthur butted in, "I have cooked before!"

"Yes, darling, we know. But we were hoping for something edible. And if you're making it.." Ella said in a sugary sweet voice.

"Ella, that's enough." Merlin interuppted.

"Excuse me? Did the almighty Merlin think I was being mean? My, you _have _grown soft over the years if you think _that _was going too far. Tell me Merlin, do you remember little Caine?"

Merlin paled. "I had forgotten all about him. Poor kid. He became so scared all the time after that. Getting your finger cut off for asking too many questions will do that to you."

"Wait, you cut off some kids finger for asking too many questions?" Arthur asked in shock.

"Yeah, he stopped asking questions after that. The kid learned fast."

The knights looked at her in horror.

"Oh, come on, it's not like I killed him or anything." Ella said.

"No, it's just… Never mind." Arthur stopped talking.

"Well, after that cheery story, how about I make breakfast?" Merlin clapped his hands together, trying to stop the conversation before it went too far.

Ella opened her mouth to argue, but Merlin interrupted her.

"No. I am cooking. Deal with it."

"Fine," she resented, "But I'm not happy about it."

"I never said you would be."

About an hour later, breakfast was served and everyone was eating.

"So, how do you two know each other?" Arthur asked, gesturing toward Merlin and Ella with his spoon.

Ella took a bite of the stew before answering. She swallowed.

"Simple. Merlin's my brother."

**Please Review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: Hey everyone, I'm back! Sorry, I haven't written for a while. Just want to give another thanks to all of my followers! I love you guys! Once again, nothing has changed the fact that I do not own Merlin. Sadness. Anyways, don't forget that I love reviews! Well, enough idle chatter. To glory!**

Chapter 4

Upon hearing this, Arthur promptly choked on his food. Ella watched him with a bored look on her face, and continued to eat her breakfast, ignoring the confused stares that everyone but Merlin was giving her. Finally Arthur was able to breathe again.

"Sorry," he gasped, his face red from the momentary lack of air, "Could you run that by me one more time?"

"Merlin is my brother. It isn't that hard to understand. After all, he should have told you about me. Right?" She asked, turning to Merlin.

He scratched his head, "Well…."

She narrowed her eyes. "You mean to tell me that you've been working for these idiots for about 5 years and you never told them that you had a sister?" The lethal tone had returned to her voice.

"Sorry?"

"Wait, wait, wait, everybody just stop for a second," Gwaine interrupted. "I just want to clarify."

He pointed to Ella. "You are related to..."

"Him?" He pointed to Merlin.

She started to nod, and then stopped.

"Well, sort of. We consider ourselves related."

"Consider?" Gwaine asked, trying to follow the discussion.

"We're not actually blood related. It's more of a… Agh! What's the word? Merlin, help me."

"Honorary brother/sister relationship." Merlin said, after thinking for a while.

"Yes, honorary relationship. That's what I was looking for. Merlin and Hunith sort of took me in."

"Why?" Leon asked, just as confused as everybody else.

A growl escaped Ella's throat, "And why should I tell you my whole life story?"

Merlin, sensing danger, quickly said, "Ella, they're just asking. They're confused. After all, they just met you, and you're saying that you're my sister. And then you say you're not my sister. You would be confused, too."

She rolled her eyes, "Fine. But no interruptions, and no questions until the end, understood?"

They all nodded.

"Ok, here we go."

She took a deep breath and began.

"I was born about 19 years ago, in the OakMoore Mountains. My mom was a wonderful woman, and loved me very much. She always took care of me, and taught me how to take care of myself. She taught me how to heal people, just like her. She was the healer in our little traveling group. We traveled around, belonging nowhere. We hunted and traded for what we needed. She taught me how to love it. She was the best woman in the world."

"Was?" Arthur interrupted.

She glared at him lethally.

"What did I say about interrupting?"

"Sorry," he said quickly, backing down.

"As I was saying, before that very rude interruption, she was the best woman ever. My father was a different story. He hated me from the beginning. He loved my mother, and saw me as something to take her away from him. But, he tolerated me for my mother. So when she was killed by soldiers…"

She trailed off. She took a deep breath and started again.

"We were collecting some herbs, when I accidentally walked onto sacred ground belonging to the king of that land. I didn't realize.. They had a crossbow..and my mother… she jumped in the way of the arrow. She saved my life. I was only 7 years old. And my father, he had seen the whole thing. He blamed me for her death. He said that if I didn't leave immediately, he would kill me. Like I killed her. So I left. I don't know how many weeks I ran, terrified that he would find me. Finally, I came to some woods. I lived there for a few days, trying to get enough food to stay alive. And then one day, someone found me. And that person is sitting before me today."

"Merlin?" Leon asked.

Ella looked like she wanted to argue about being interrupted again, but she finally decided to keep her mouth shut.

"Yes. He knew I needed help, and he took me to his mother. She fed me and gave me a home. She became my second mother and Merlin was my first and real brother. I was happy. I had finally found a real home. But, one day, Merlin got tired of Ealdor, and decided to leave for Camelot. I was furious; I had always pictured myself leaving first. So I did. I left the next day. I never looked back. So I've been living on my own for years, never thinking I'd find my brother again. But here he is. " Ella ended.

"Wow, deep" Gwaine said.

**Hope you liked it. Just a little note. I'm getting bored with this story and my life's getting really busy, so I probably won't be updating it for a while. Sorry! I love you guys!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't updated for a while. Please note that I have a question for all of you at the end. And that I don't own Merlin. Do I need to say that every time? Because, sadly, I doubt I ever will. Oh, and in case I forgot to mention, this takes place right before season five. So, yeah. Onward!**

Chapter 5

Ella moaned and put her head in her hands, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like, ' Idiots. All of them. Idiots.'

"What?" Gwaine demanded.

"You don't say, 'wow, deep', when someone bears their life story about a mother that died and a father that wants to kill them, Gwaine." Elyan said, giving him a I-can't-believe-you-just-said-that look.

"What was I supposed to say?" Gwaine demanded.

"Anything but that," Elyan said.

"Well that's stupid."

Ella continued to massage her temples for a second, ignoring all of them. Finally she stood up and walked over to Arthur and held out her hand expectantly.

"What?" He asked.

She rolled her eyes and jabbed her finger at his plate.

"Your dishes, smart one. _The dishes_. I'm washing them."

"No you're not," Merlin said, standing up. "I'm doing them."

"Oh, no you don't. I was super nice about breakfast. I'm doing the dishes." She said, grabbing the plate, and whirling away from Merlin.

Merlin started to go after her, then paused and looked at her in astonishment.

"_Super nice about breakfast?"_

She stuck out her tongue. "Yes, very. And unless I am much mistaken, " she quickly pulled out a dagger that she had had strapped to her waist. Merlin backed up, keeping both eyes in the weapon. She continued happily , "Nope, not mistaken. You still have no skills with weapons whatsoever. I'm guessing that's why none of your little friends have given you a sword. You'd probably kill yourself. Anyways, unless you want to see where this knife will go…"

Merlin backed away in terror, holding his hands up in surrender. "That's it, I'm done. I argued about breakfast, I am not arguing about dishes. You want to work, fine."

She smiled triumphantly as he sat down in mock anger. She quickly took the dishes, some of them forcibly. (Gwaine was very upset) She started to march off, then seemed to stop and think. She then came back over to Merlin.

"Here." Ella said, dropping the sheathed dagger in his lap. She quickly grabbed the dishes and walked off again. While she was gone, the others cleaned up camp and saddled the horses.

"Well Merlin, your girlfriend seems nice." Arthur said with a cheeky grin, as he sat down.

Merlin, who had been playing with the knife, jumped so bad he slit his thumb open.

"Ow! Jerk, you made me bleed. I'm going to die one day because of you." Merlin said angrily, sucking on the wounded digit.

"She's super nice. Playing around with you. Giving you gifts…" Arthur started, still with the stupid grin on his face.

"Threatening to murder me over dishes." Merlin said, "Guys, she's not my girlfriend. Trust me on this, ok?" he looked up, only to see that all of the knights were giving him the same dumb look.

"Ugh! You guys are hopeless!" Merlin said, trying to think of what he could say to get them to leave them alone. He was saved by responding when Ella walked up, holding the dishes.

"I'm back. After being _forced_ to wash your dishes." She cried dramatically, dropping the dishes in Merlin's arms.

"FORCED?! You wanted to!"

She waved this off. "We all say things we don't mean."

Merlin rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, Arthur blurted, "How about you come to Camelot with us?"

**Well, what did you think? Now, back to that thing I wanted to ask you. As you can see, I've left the story very open, and I could make it go any way really. So I'm asking you, my beloved readers, what you want. I can make it romantic. I have an idea for a tragedy. (No deaths, just sad) If you have any other ideas, I'd love to hear them. Or, if you're just plain sick of it, I can end it in the next chapter. Please leave your ideas in the review box. Please be completely honest. I'm a big kid, I can take it.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: I'm sorry, I haven't updated in forever! I feel like a jerk. Now that school's almost out, I should have more time to write. But no promises. On the last chapter, I didn't get any reviews. Come on guys, I know I'm not the best writer, but can I get just one review? Please? Oh well, enough chatter. Onward!**

Chapter 6

"I'm sorry?" Ella said, looking confused for the first time.

"Do you want to come to Camelot with us?" Arthur repeated.

"And why would I want to do that?"

"See the city. Learn something new. Meet new people. That sort of thing," Arthur said.

Now Ella looked even more confused.

"Um, sorry if I haven't made this point clear. I.(she pointed to herself) Don't. (she shook her head) Like. (She made a heart shape with her hands) People.(she gestured to the knights) Ok?"

"But it would be fun. The queen would love you. I'm sure Gaius would love to meet you. You wouldn't have to stay long, you could leave whenever you wanted to. You could stay with Merlin. I'm sure he won't mind."

He turned toward the dark haired man and have him an evil grin that only Merlin could see. Suddenly, it all made sense to Merlin. Arthur only wanted Ella there so he could bug Merlin about her and their so called 'relationship'.

"Um, Ella, you're probably right. Camelot is boring. You don't want to go." Merlin quickly said.

Too late, he realized his mistake.

"Wait, so you _don't _want me to go?" Ella asked with an evil grin of her own. "Well, in that case, I'm coming! Let's go!"

And with that, she ran off.

Merlin groaned, and called after her, "Other way, Ella."

Immediately, she changed direction and kept running.

Silently cursing, Merlin mounted his horse and mentally prepared himself for the torment and teasing he would undoubtedly face.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

About an hour later, they arrived at the castle, with Merlin daydreaming about using his new dagger on Arthur and the knights. The tormenting was much worse than he had anticipated.

"I have to admit, she is pretty. I can see why you..." Arthur suddenly cut off when he spotted the two main gate guards lying on the ground.

The group edged closer to the bodies. Arthur leaped off his horse and walked closer to inspect them. But his head jerked up when a shrill scream pierced the air.

"Guinevere." Arthur said. He turned towards his men and shouted, "Find her!"

Thy sprang into action, jumping off their horses and charging the castle. The scream came again, from the direction of the throne room. The men started to run even faster, with Arthur in the lead. But it was no use. Arthur knew it. She could have been killed by now. The thought made him run even faster.

Soon, but not soon enough, the reached the door. Even in his determined, close-minded state, Athur was shocked to see that the door was open. Shaking this off, he ran through, holding up in sword so he could fight whoever dared enter his castle. But what he saw made him gasp and drop his sword. Somehow, Ella had gotten there first.

She had one arm back, silently telling the queen to stay behind her. Guinevere's eyes were wide and there was a rip across her dress, hut otherwise she was ok.

However, Ella's other arm was holding a blade to the neck of a filthy man. He was breathing hard, most likely due to the fact that she was kneeling on his chest. Around the room, men lay on the ground unconscious, a result of the fight that had taken place. There was no red capes of Camelot, so they were the backup of the man Ella had captured.

Seeing Arthur, she called happily, "Look what I found!" She quickly stood, and backed away, allowing Arthur to advance.

Arthur picked up his sword and came over. He held the sword to the man's throat.

His voice was shaking in anger as he said, "Don't ever try to hurt my wife again. Or I promise you, I will show no mercy the second time. Do you understand?"

The man looked up with rage in his eyes. Arthur pressed the sword harder, causing the skin around the point to turn red.

"Do you?" He shouted. Without waiting for an answer, he yelled over his shoulder to his knights, "Take him away, I don't want to see or hear him for a long time."

The knights came and took the men to the dungeons. In the meantime, Arthur had ran over to Gwen and was stroking her hair. Slowly, her sobbing stopped.

"What happened?" Arthur asked.

"I was just sitting here after I had finished the planning for the feast next month, when that man came in. He said how wanted me to come with him. He wanted me as a hostage. I tried to scream for help, but he had gotten rid of all the guards. No one could hear me. I thought I was going to die. And then that _girl _came in." She pointed toward Ella who was standing next to Merlin. They were both facing the corner, trying to leave without the king or queen seeing them. Hearing that she was being discussed, Ella turned to face them.

Gwen continued in a whisper. "It was amazing. I've never seen one person take on so many single handedly. She saved my life."

Arthur turned and inspected the brown haired girl. He stood and walked over to her.

"Thank you for saving the Queen Guinevere. I owe you a great debt." He said, with a slight incline of head.

"Wait, if she's the queen and you're married to her...You must be..." Suddenly her eyes went wide. "The king."

He raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. I am."

"Well why didn't you tell me that _before _I started insulting you?" Ella asked, embarrassed.

"I didn't exactly have the chance."

"Sorry, I guess. So, am I supposed to curtsy or something? Because if you think I'm gonna curtsy, you've got another thing coming..."

In the discussion, neither of them had noticed Gwen, who now stood behind Arthur. She began to whisper something his ear. He nodded his agreement when she finished. He turned and faced the knight that had returned from the dungeons.

"The feast of next month will be held tomorrow, in honor of the rescuer of the Queen Guinevere, Ella of the mountains."

** Please rate and review!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's note: Now that it's summer, I have more time to write, so I should be able to update more often. I would have updated sooner, but for some reason, everything that I had written got deleted. Pretty mad about that. But I really loved writing these next two chapters, and I hope you like it. Enough idle chatter. Onward!**

Chapter 7

"Wait, I have to go somewhere?" Ella asked a couple moments after Arthur's announcement. "Hang on, the only reason I came here was to annoy Merlin. Now I have to _do_ something? What is _wrong_ with you people?"

"Ella," Merlin hissed.

She turned to face him.

"What?" she asked innocently, as if she hadn't just potentially insulted the entire court.

"Just say thank you and walk away," he whispered.

She made a face at him and turned back around to face the king and queen.

She sighed and begin to talk in a bored, monotone voice, "Thank you for your kindness and generosity. It is very kind of you to invite me. I will try to show up on time so that I may eat your food in a timely manner. And now, sadly..."

She gave a hugely exaggerated bow and waved sweetly to the entire court. She blew a kiss and said, in a sweet voice that deeply contrasted the monotone she had used moments before, "I must bid you adieu. I love you all so much, and I will see you tomorrow. So in the meantime, try not to hurt each other, try not to miss me, and try to leave me alone as much as possible. Farewell!"

And with that, she twirled and skipped out of the room. With her exit, came quite a few things. The court started to discuss the strange new girl, Gwaine started laughing, Gwen smiled, Arthur gave Merlin his annoying look, and Merlin groaned as he massaged his temples.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo OoOoO

Shortly after the 'thank you scene', the entire castle heard that the feast was being moved to tomorrow. It quickly took action. The kitchens started to prepare the meal, the best dishes were polished, and everyone that was going to attend started to prepare. That is, everyone except...

"Ella! Ella, wait!" Gwen called down the hallway.

Ella stopped and walked over to Gwen. Even though she wasn't the biggest fan of royalty, she liked Gwen.

"Hello. Is there something wrong?" Ella asked.

Gwen smiled. "Thanks to you, no. I just wanted to give you something to thank you for saving my life."

Ella gave a confused smile. "You're already doing this huge feast thing. I don't need anything else."

Gwen waved her hand, shaking this off.

"You saved me. It's the least I could do to make sure you had somewhere to stay."

Ella was surprised. "I was probably going to camp out. I like camping. Staying indoors makes me feel closed in."

"So let me guess, staying in a castle would make you feel..."

She stopped when Ella started shaking her head so hard, it nearly came off.

"I'm sorry, I couldn't. Just this hall feels huge. But closed in. I like an open place, staying here would just feel too strange."

Suddenly, the queen grinned.

"How about small houses?"

"What?" Ella asked, very confused.

"You could have my... I mean the blacksmith's old house." She blushed at her mistake. For some reason, Gwen didn't feel like having to explain her and Arthur's strange relationship and her past life. Fortunately, Ella didn't ask questions. She immediately went into protesting.

"No, I couldn't do that. It's not mine..."

"Too bad. You're going to stay there. You helped me. I'm helping you." Gwen said. Grinning, she told Ella how to get there.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo OoOoOo

"Merlin, put that down," Arthur said.

Merlin paused for a second, then continued to work the polish onto the suit of armor.

"Why? You told me to polish your armor, and now I'm polishing it. What's wrong with that?" Merlin asked, turning slightly to face him.

"Today, you're going to take the day off." Arthur said with a smile that immediately put Merlin on his guard. But he didn't care.

Merlin dropped the suit of armor with a crash. Arthur gave him a 'really?' look, but Merlin ignored it.

"I don't know why, and I don't care. This is the first break I've had in weeks. And the less time I have to spend looking at you ugly face, the happier I'll be. So, bye!"

Merlin turned and was halfway out the door, when Arthur called after him.

"You're right. You need to take a break. See the city. Help Gaius. See old friends." He said with grin that Merlin couldn't see.

Merlin froze. So that's what this was about. Ella. Merlin slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"I. _Hate._ You." He muttered between clenched teeth, which only made Arthur smile harder.

Merlin took a deep breath, and turned his head to look at the royal clotpole.

"Actually, no thanks, I really need to work on some things."

"You are taking the day off."

"No I'm not." Merlin argued.

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Yes you are. And that's an order."

Merlin chuckled and fully turned to face him.

"Remind me. When was the last time I ever followed your orders?"

"When I threatened you with the stocks." Arthur said with his annoying grin.

"You're going to threaten me with the stocks if I don't take the day off?" Merlin asked in disbelief. Clearly, all of the head injuries that Arthur had sustained over the years had finally caught up to him. Arthur had lost it.

"Yes," Arthur said with the same infuriating smile.

Merlin groaned, but finally said, "You know what? I don't care. I am taking the day off and I will do whatever I want. And you have no say over what I do."

"Ok," Arthur said in an annoyingly calm voice. When he turned around to find his sword, Merlin raised his hands and started to mime strangling him. But then he had a better idea. He grinned an evil grin that Arthur would be jealous of and his eyes flashed gold. Arthur's sword slipped off the table and hit the suit of armor that had been left on the floor. There was a large crash and it was clear that there was a large dent in the armor.

"Merlin, come fix..." Arthur started.

But Merlin interrupted with a shrug. "Sorry, it's my day off. I can't."

And with that, Merlin smiled and left a very annoyed Arthur to his armor.

**Please rate and review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's note: Not much to say. Um, first, I absolutely LOVED writing this chapter. That's it. Other than that, I just want to give a thank you to all who bothered to read this story. But a big thank you goes out to Hope You Will Always Stay! I love your reviews and your support! Hey everybody, you all need to read this girl's story! It is amazing and hilarious! You have to read it! And without further adieu, Onward!**

Chapter 8

Ella looked around the kitchen of the small house. It wasn't too bad. It definatly beat the castle, at least in her mind. Shortly after the talk with Gwen, she had thanked the queen and followed her directions to the small house.

Eventually, she found it. It was small in a cozy sort of way. She wasn't originally planning on staying there, but she felt that would be disrespectful. And she couldn't remember the last time she had slept in a bed. So she finally decided that she would stay.

She liked it, but there was nothing to do. She was so _bored_. She drummed her fingers on the table for a couple minutes. Finally she couldn't take it anymore. She jumped up and left.

She weaved her way through the crowd. Where she was going, she had no idea. She just couldn't hold still anymore. Moving felt good. She was heading toward a market place, when she heard someone call her name.

"Ella! Hey, Ella! Over here!" Gwaine shouted.

Ella turned slowly and walked over to the long haired man, who had one of the other knights with him. She couldn't really recall his name...Percival or something.

"May I help you?" She asked in her monotone voice.

"We were just going to go to the tavern, and we wanted to see if you wanted to come." Gwaine said.

"Only if you want to," Percival interrupted. "We both know you don't really... enjoy people in general."

Ella grinned.

"True. But when there's a tavern involved... I'm willing to overlook my general hatred of people."

"Fair enough, " Gwaine shrugged.

The trio started off in the direction of the tavern.

"Coming, Leon?" Gwaine called toward the passing knight.

Leon shook his head and called back, "No, I have some new knights that I have to train. Maybe some other time."

Gwaine nodded his understanding. Within minutes, the small group caught sight of the tavern.

Gwaine laughed, throwing his arms open as if to embrace it.

"You could hate me and wish me a slow painful death and I wouldn't care, as long as I could still go to the tavern."

He turned slightly to face Ella and gave her a flirtatious smile.

"And as long as I can go with you," he said, reaching out to stroke her arm.

Ella's familiar lethal look crossed her face, and before Gwaine could react, he had a dagger to his throat.

"Look," Ella growled, "I'm flattered and all. Well, sort of. Not really. Never mind, that flattered thing was a lie. I'm more what you would call... Repulsed. I'm sure lots of other girls find your, um, '_charm_' attractive. However, I am not like other girls. I just see it as irritating. But, I do try to be fair. So I'll make you a deal. You never, _ever_ try to touch or flirt with me again, and I'll let you keep all your fingers, your tongue, and your life! Sound fair?"

She didn't wait for an answer. She pulled back the dagger and stuck it in its sheath. Gwaine took a deep breath to make up for the momentary lack of air, and he started to rub his throat.

Ella continued as if nothing had happened. "Good. Now, I don't want you to take this the wrong way. You've got your mild sense of humor and your 'charm'. I'm sure some other girl will be willing to worship you. That girl just isn't me. Now are we going to drink or what?"

And with that, she turned and smoothly glided into the tavern. Percival and Gwaine exchanged a look. Even though he had been threatened and rejected, Gwaine still laughed. Something about Ella was just funny. And intriguing.

So the pair of knights shrugged, and followed the brunette into the tavern. It was average for a tavern. Warm with the heat of bodies, slightly stuffy, and lit enough to see through. But even in the musty light, no one could see Ella's devious smile.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo OoOoOo

As much as he hated to admit it, Merlin was bored. He hadn't had a day off in so long, he had no idea what to do. No one had tried to destroy Camelot for the past few days, and Arthur didn't have any death threats that he was aware of.

So he was reduced to walking around the castle grounds, kicking a rock for amusement. Before he knew it, he was at the training grounds. Normally, he hated practice. But since it didn't involve Arthur trying to hurt Merlin in every way possible, he enjoyed watching the knights practice. Unfortunately, training had just ended. Just his luck. He was about to leave when he caught sight of Leon. He jogged over to the older knight and greeted him with a smile.

"So, Merlin," Leon said. "Slacking off of work again?"

Merlin grinned and shook his head. "No, Arthur gave me the day off."

Leon gasped in mock surprise. "Is he feeling all right? Giving you the day off?"

Merlin laughed. "That's what I thought, but at the time I didn't care and didn't ask why. But he told me anyways..."

"What did he say? He was suffering from brain damage?"

"No, he's just trying to be irritating."

"How so?" Leon asked, gesturing that they start to walk towards the armory.

"Well..." Merlin begin unsurely as the started to walk. Leon was the only one that hadn't teased him about Ella.

"Let me guess. Ella?"

Merlin looked at him in shock. "How did you know?"

Leon shrugged. "Lucky guess."

They walked in silence for a few steps.

Suddenly, Merlin said, "Speaking of which, do you know where she is? Knowing her, she's probably trying to figure out the best way to burn down the city..."

"Last I heard, she was going to the tavern." Leon said casually.

Merlin froze in his tracks."She went to the tavern?!" Merlin yelped.

"Yeah, why is it such a big deal?" Leon asked, watching the younger man in concern.

By now, he was muttering to himself and holding his head in his hands. "This is bad. This is bad. This is very, very bad."

He shook his head and took off running, and yelled over his shoulder, "Sorry, Leon! I need to go!"

Within minutes, he had arrived at The Rising Sun tavern. He took a deep breath, mentally bracing himself for what he would find inside. He shuddered, and pushed the door open.

"Merlin!" A drunken Gwaine slurred.

Merlin sighed, plastered a fake smile on, and walked over to Gwaine. That was the best way to deal with drunk knights. Just play along.

As he walked over, Merlin observed the damage. Gwaine was, obviously, very drunk. Percival was more sensible and had one mug of something. And Ella... Merlin quickly scanned the room, trying to find her.

And he did.

She was sitting directly across from a large man that Merlin had never seen before. Behind the man, stood another stranger, probably a friend of the man sitting down. At first Merlin was confused. From the looks of it... Merlin groaned. They were going to have an arm wrestling contest. Merlin quickly walked over.

Ella was giggling and was hiccuping slightly. Great. She was drunk.

"On the count of three," the man's friend said with a chuckle. It was obvious that they thought it was funny to mess with the drunken girl.

"One" the two clasped hands.

"Two" the man braced himself.

"Three" Ella giggled.

The man pushed Ella's hand down easily, as there was no resistance.

The men laughed and started to leave. Merlin walked over to Ella.

"Come on, Ella, let's go," he whispered.

Ella sloppily turned to face him. She started to press just one finger to his lips to ask for silence, but in her drunken state, she ended up pressing her entire palm across his face.

"Shhhhhhhhhhh," she hissed. "You're so loud."

She pulled back her hand, and let it fall lazily to the table. She turned to face the retreating men.

"Wait!" She slurred after them."One more time!"

The two men laughed and walked back.

"Fine," the man said, putting his arm on the table to prep for the contest. Ella smiled and clasped his hand.

"One" the men grinned.

"Two" Ella giggled again.

"Three" the man's hand tightened.

Ella's hand slammed to the table. The men laughed.

"One more time! The last time! Please!" Ella pleaded, hiccuping on the last word.

The man looked her over. Finally, he said, "I'd love to, darling. But sadly, I only play twice for free. The third time, I need money to make up my mind. How about we say, oh, twenty gold pieces?"

Merlin clenched his fists. He couldn't let Ella lose all her money. He grabbed her shoulders.

"Ella, you are leaving. Now." He said firmly.

She tried to push his hands off. When that didn't work, she craned her neck and bit his right knuckle, hard. Merlin yelped slightly and pulled back his hands.

"Fine. Lose your money. I don't care," he muttered, backing off.

Ella turned to the man and looked up at him with a face of pure sadness and innocence.

"But all I have is ten gold pieces," Ella whispered.

The man laughed.

"That'll do, darling. That'll do." The man said.

He laid down his ten gold coins on the table. He paused and looked expectantly at Ella. She swallowed, and pulled out a little brown sack. She slowly counted out the ten gold pieces and laid them on the table.

He smiled. "Good. Are you ready?" He poised his hand, waiting for her to decide.

She paused, the nodded slowly. She reached out and grabbed the man's hand. The man laughed easily, knowing he would win. The man's friend started to count.

"One." Suddenly, Ella's face broke out in a wicked grin.

The man counting, faltered for a second, confused by Ella's sudden change. But he pressed on and kept counting.

"T-two." The man arm-wrestling Ella frowned in confusion.

"Three." This time, Ella's hand was the hand that tightened.

Within seconds, Ella had slammed the man's hand down to the table. The man yelped, quickly released Ella's hand and began rubbing his now red fist.

"Sorry about that, buddy," Ella said, her voice suddenly much clearer.

The man looked at her in shock.

She smiled happily. "That's right. I'm not drunk. Never was. Never will be. I act, what can I say?" She said with a 'what-can-you-do?' shrug.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to take your money."

She scooped the gold pieces into her little brown bag. She smiled a sickly sweet smile at the man.

"Maybe next time you'll think twice about taking advantage of people."

She waved her fingers at him, turned and skipped out of the dark building.

**Please rate and review and don't forget to read Hope You Will Always Stay's story!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's note: Hello beloved readers! Yes, I have another chapter. But it's really short. It's more of a filler chapter than anything. Oh well. Onward!**

Chapter 9

The next day dawned bright and early. Well, for some people. Other people... Not so much.

Merlin woke up in a state of panic when he realized that his day off was over.

In his hurry to get up, he somehow managed to jump/fall out of bed, trip over some book Gaius was making him read, and nearly give himself a concussion.

But he shook it off, and got dressed before running to the kitchens for the king's breakfast. Within seconds, he had the food to the king's chambers.

A few minutes later, Merlin left the room with a smile on his face. It might just be a good day. Arthur had been too lazy to throw more than a goblet at him and forgot to mention Ella altogether. That, and feast days were slightly easier than normal days, because during feasts, all he had to do was make sure that there was enough for everyone to drink. Which was highly amusing in itself. Watching the Once and Future king get drunk? Priceless.

So the dark haired sorcerer walked off with a spring in his step to start polishing the king's armor.

And nearly died of a heart attack when an all-too-familiar brunette snuck up behind him, and jabbed him in the back. Hard. Merlin yelped, and whipped around to face her.

"Hey, Merlin," Ella said, biting into an apple casually.

"Hey, Ella," Merlin growled, trying to calm his rapidly beating heart after Ella's unexpected entrance.

Ella looked at him for a second, then pointed at him and started to laugh.

"You're funny when you're terrified." She giggled, taking another bite of her apple.

"Glad to see that my pain and terror is amusing to you," Merlin muttered, rolling his eyes. But even though he tried to pretend to be mad, he couldn't help but smile.

"Ha!" Ella crowed, pointing again, her mouth full of apple. "You smiled! I win!"

Merlin rolled his eyes again, and started to walk toward the armory. Ella, needless to say, followed. They walked silently for a few steps. Finally, Merlin gestured toward the apple with a nod of his head.

"Where'd you get that anyways?" He asked.

She took another bite before answering, "Took it from the kitchens."

"How? The cook doesn't let anyone but servants in to pick up the food."

Ella shrugged. "Wasn't hard really. You know, this place should really get better night guards, I was able to walk right in."

"And by 'walk right in' you mean..."

"Climbed through a window and snuck past whenever the guards weren't watching." Ella replied, taking another bite.

"Ah. What time did you sneak in?" Merlin asked as they turned the corner to the armory.

Ella tilted her head for a second, trying to remember. "About an hour before dawn," She finally decided.

"An hour before _dawn_?" Merlin asked in shock. "Did you sleep at _all_ last night?"

She smirked. "Of course I slept. Don't worry about it, I got about a full ten minutes."

"You only slept for ten minutes? You need more sleep than that!" Merlin exclaimed.

"Stop worrying. It was the best sleep I've had in weeks. Why do you even care?" She suddenly asked, turning to face him.

"I... I don't know... I..." Merlin stuttered. Why was he so worried? Ella could take care of herself. He knew that _full_ well. So why was he so... worried about her all of a sudden?

Ella responded to his stuttering with a classic eye roll, and patted the top of his head sarcastically.

"Don't hurt yourself, genius. It was just a question."

She pulled her hand back from off his head, and clapped her hands together.

"Well, I'd best be off," she said in her mock-formal voice. "Places to destroy, people to ignore. Tata! See you at the feast thing tonight!"

She clapped her hands once more and she skipped down the hall. She was halfway gone, when Merlin remembered something. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled after her retreating back.

"You do realize that you have to dress up, right? Ella!"

But there was no response. Merlin just laughed and shook his head. He didn't know why he had said it. As if Ella would ever put on a dress. Still laughing softly, he headed into the armory.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

*an hour before the feast*

"Ella! Ella, wait!" Gwen called after the girl, who had been walking down the hall a second earlier. However, she quickly changed direction and walked over to the queen of Camelot.

"Yes?" She replied.

"Are you ready for the feast? It's going to be... and just what are those?" Gwen asked teasingly, waving her hand at Ella's well worn tunic and leggings.

Ella looked down at herself, confused.

"Um, clothes?" She replied sarcastically. She normally showed Gwen more respect, but if Gwen was teasing, Ella would be too.

"Yeah. Guys clothes. Maybe." Gwen said, still teasing.

"You have a problem with that? Maybe I like guys clothes." Ella said, folding her arms, still playing mock defensive.

"Well you can love them all you want, AFTER the dinner. But for the dinner, you are getting dressed up, like it or not." Gwen said with a sly grin.

Ella gasped. She fell to her knees in front of the queen and looked into her face.

"Guinevere, milady, please. Please don't make me wear a dress. Please. It goes against everything I stand for. Please." She begged, clasping her hands together, real panic lacing into the mock-panic.

Gwen bent over, helped Ella up, and steadied the girl by grasping her elbows.

"It'll just be for one night. And you don't have to buy a dress. You can just borrow one of mine." Gwen tried to reassure her.

This, however, was the wrong thing to say.

"And that's why I can't take it! All I did was beat the living day lights out of some jerks, which I would have done happily for free. But instead you gave me a house, a huge dinner thing, and now a dress! Gwen, I can't stand being in people's debt. I've lived on my own for so long, I've become so independent, it's hard for me to accept gifts. I just... I can't." Ella pleaded.

"Ella, if anyone is in anyone's debt, I'm in yours. You may think saving me on your own wasn't a big deal, but not a lot of people could have done that. And no matter what I do, I can't repay you enough. Not in my mind. So I'll make you a deal. You borrow this dress for one night, and I'll stop trying to repay you. I'll consider us even. You'll consider us even. Deal?" Gwen asked.

Ella stood for a minute, thinking it over. Finally she nodded.

"Deal."

Gwen smiled, and pulled the less-than-enthusiastic girl into her chambers to find the perfect dress.

**Short, I know. It's more of a filler chapter. So to make it up to you, I'll post two short chapters this week instead of one really long chapter. I know you must hate me for dragging this out. But I promise. In the chapter after next, I finally get to the feast. I promise. Please rate and review and read Hope You Will Always Stay's story if you haven't already. Byyyyyyyyyeeee!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Authors note: Greetings, foolish mortals! I have come to rule you! Bow down before me! Bow to my awesomeness! BOW! *green lights, fog, and creepy music come out of nowhere* Mwa ha ha ha!**

**...**

**I... I'm sorry. I don't know why... *music, lights, and fog awkwardly fades***

**...**

**Well, this is awkward. **

**Let's just... get to the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of its characters. Only Ella and the overall insanity that she brings.**

Chapter 10

"Oh my..." Ella gasped as soon as she stepped into Gwen's chambers.

Gwen smiled at the stunned look on Ella's face.

"That... Is a lot of dresses." Ella finally said, gazing at the rows upon rows of dresses. There was hundreds of colors, dozens of styles, it was amazing.

"And you're going to wear one!" Gwen giggled.

Ella gave her a death glare. "Don't rub it in."

Gwen laughed and started looking around.

Ella looked around once, groaned, and promptly fell into a chair.

Gwen kept looking and would select a dress occasionally.

"Too happy," Ella said, when Gwen held up a yellow dress.

"Too girly," Ella moaned to a silky green dress.

"Too... Blegh," Ella grumbled, aimlessly flopping her hands at a long purple gown.

"I swear, you are _trying_ to be difficult," Gwen teased, putting back the most recent dress.

Suddenly, a wicked grin crossed Gwen's face when a certain dress caught her eye. However, it was unseen by Ella, who happened to be staring at something in her hand.

"Oh Ellaaaaaaaa," Gwen sang, holding up the dress.

"Too..." Ella started, then looked up.

"AAAAGGHH!" Ella screamed, falling off the chair.

Gwen smiled as she continued to hold up the frilly pink dress. Gwen hated it too, but as it had been given as a wedding gift, she had to keep it.

Ella had curled up on the floor and was hiding her head under her arms.

"Make it go away! Make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!" Ella shrieked from her hiding place.

Gwen quickly put the dress back and held up her hands in surrender.

"It's ok, Ella. It's ok. It's gone now, it's ok," Gwen said apologetically, holding back a smile.

Ella peered through her arms accusingly. "Really?"

"Really," Guinevere affirmed.

"Ok, I guess I trust you," Ella muttered, looking up at the queen of Camelot.

"Here, let me help you up. I'm sorry," Gwen said, reaching down to give Ella a hand.

"No you're not," Ella muttered, but she accepted Gwen's hand anyways. But Ella's face had an evil grin of its own as she pulled down hard, forcing Gwen down next to her.

"You are an evil little thing," Gwen laughed.

"You were the one who forced me to look at that... that... hideous excuse of a dress."

"Fair enough," Gwen replied.

They sat in silence for a minute, each lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Gwen broke the stillness. She nodded toward the object in the other girl's palm, the thing that distracted Ella from the dress in the first place.

"What's that?"

Ella pulled her fist to her chest. "Nothing," she said in an unconvincing voice.

"Come on, what is it?" Gwen prodded.

Ella held her protective stance for a second. What if Gwen recognized the symbol? If she did, Ella would be exposed. But, on the other hand, very few people recognized the symbol and what it meant. It just wasn't very well known, not like the Druids. So there was a large chance Gwen wouldn't recognize it. And if she didn't show her at all, it would make Gwen suspicious.

So after a split second of consideration, Ella decided she would take the risk.

Ella sighed and moved her hand in front of Gwen. Gwen held her hand open, palm up. Ella's fist unclenched, and the object fell into Gwen's open hand. Gwen lifted it up to the light to see it clearly.

It was a necklace. It had a long silver chain, easily reaching a hands width below the hollow in Ella's throat. And the charm itself was breath taking. It was an oval made of the same silver as the chain. And set in the middle, was an amethyst. It seemed to have a faint glow, which was offset by the eight small moonstones that circled the amethyst. And along the very edge of the pendant, were the words, "Nox noctis of lupus"

Ella quickly scanned the queens face for any sign of recognition. As she had hoped, she saw none.

"Ella. This... This is beautiful," Gwen gasped.

And suddenly the pain of the necklace struck home.

"It was a gift from my mother," Ella said, turning away.

Gwen looked at the ground. Shortly after they had met, Ella had told her the same story that she had told the knights. But the queen was slightly more sympathetic, as Gwen was a girl, and that's what girls do.

"I'm sorry," Gwen finally said, as she placed the pendant around Ella's neck and fastened the clasp.

Ella's hand went to her throat and she rubbed the cool metal. She turned and faced Gwen with a smile.

"It's all right. It's not your fault she's gone," Ella replied, still rubbing the silver chain.

"And it's not your fault either," Gwen said, placing a hand on the other girls shoulder.

Ella looked down.

"Why do you hide it anyway? It's beautiful," Gwen said in an attempt to steer the conversation to slightly happier grounds.

Ella paused for a second. She knew what she had to do. And she could do it well. After all, lying was a second nature to her by now. But she couldn't help feel just a _tiny_ bit guilty lying to the first person that had shown her any kindness in years. But she brushed it aside, and quickly came up with a story.

"It's the only thing of value that I own. If people saw me wearing it, people would be trying to rob me left and right. And I couldn't bear to lose it. It's all I have left of my mother," Ella lied. However, there was some truth to it. It wasn't the whole truth, but there was some truth. Knowing that helped ease Ella's conscience.

But whether it was the whole truth or not, Gwen believed it.

"I understand. But, couldn't you show it off for just one night? At the dinner, no one would try to take it. I promise," Gwen said with a smile.

Ella began to panic. Sure Gwen didn't recognize it, but what if someone else did? But before she could deny the offer, she heard herself say:

"Sure, why not?"

"Now we just need to find the right dress..." Gwen said, standing up.

"You go right ahead..." Ella started, still cursing herself about the necklace, when something caught her eye. She gasped and stood up. She walked over and picked up the dress. Gwen saw her movement and looked over.

"Ella, it's... It's perfect," Gwen gasped.

Ella smiled happily as she held the dress to her chest, then held it out to look it over.

"Behold, the only dress I will ever wear," Ella laughed. She whirled around to face Gwen.

"Come on, we have a feast to go to," Gwen smiled.

And the two girls began to prepare.

** I promise to get to the feast in the next chapter. I swear on my life. And I'm sorry that I broke my promise about have two chapters last week. I'm very sorry. I am a horrid excuse of a human being. Forgive me and don't forget to rate and review! **


	11. Chapter 11

**Authors note: Hello beloved readers! I realized that I haven't had the chance to thank you for bothering to read this story. I am more than aware that there are thousands of better stories out there, and I'd like to thank those that decided to give mine a chance. I love you all! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately, l do not own Merlin or any of its characters.**

Chapter 11

"The knights of Camelot!" The announcer called out.

The men marched in to a large round of applause and stood in line around the room.

"King Arthur and Queen Guinevere!" The man cried, to a much larger burst of applause as the king and queen walked in.

Merlin clapped along with the rest of them, mostly because he had to, on penalty of the stocks. Shortly after they had entered, he got an elbow to the ribs. He looked over to see Gwaine.

"I'm surprised. Ella's been here a full day, and the castle's still in one piece," the knight whispered out of the corner of his mouth.

"You and me both," Merlin replied with a shake of his head. "I thought at least one building would have been burned by now."

"Do you think she's going to show up in a dress?" The other man asked.

"Oh, I _know_ she's not going to show up in a dress."

"And as the queen's guest of honor, Elesthra!" The man called, breaking apart the two men's conversation.

They both turned, fully expecting to see a scowling Ella stalk in, ready to bring grief to each and every person there.

And both nearly choked in surprise. Well, mostly Merlin. Well, all Merlin. Gwaine just laughed.

Because Ella had dressed up. At most, Merlin had expected her to hide her knives. But this? This, he was not expecting.

Her hair which was normally in a simple, over-the-shoulder-braid, had been undone and was falling loosely to the small of her back with a simple crown braid.

But it wasn't her hair that shocked him. It was the fact that she was wearing a dress. And a pretty one at that.

The top dress was a deep, blood red velvet. It had a fitted corset-type bodice, with sleeves that reached just above her elbow. Both the long, trailing skirt and the bodice were embroidered with a simple gold vine pattern, which matched the gold chain belt around her hips. The front of the red skirt and bodice opened to reveal a black velvet under-dress with the same gold vine pattern.

All of this was very hard to take in, as it was expected to be. But Ella hadn't let them down with her facials. She was currently fixing the announcer with a death stare. It might seem rude and unnecessary, but the man had used her full name, which was very off limits. What did he expect? So Ella gave him a hard, final glare, and turned to face the congregation who had started to clap for her. She gave an unsure half smile and a little wave before hurriedly walking in. She started towards the queen, but the applause had faded to a few half hearted claps. To save herself from silence, she quickly veered toward Merlin, who happened to be much closer.

"Merlin?" She whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

"Yeah?"

"Um, this is a feast, right?"

"Yeah."

"So why are there no tables? Do you eat on the ground?" A tone of eager delight crept into her voice. "'Cause I really want to see these people eat off the ground."

Merlin gave a quiet chuckle and shook his head.

"Nah, they just moved the tables into the halls. They'll put them back in when the dance is over," Merlin winced in the last words, fearing how the girl would react. As he expected, there was a horrible silence.

"You didn't tell me there was going to be a dance," Ella murmured in a deadly calm voice.

"That 'cause I knew if I told you, you wouldn't come."

Ella started to say something, then muttered a silent curse as music began to fill the air.

"Wonderful. Simply wonderful," Ella growled sarcastically. "So, I don't suppose I can't just... Sneak out of this somehow?"

"Nope. As the guest of honor, the dance is dedicated to you," Merlin said with a smirk.

"And I have to dance with someone? Merlin, you know I can't dance," Ella started to plead.

"Well, either way, you need to find someone to dance with. And soon."

Ella looked around the room with a mixture of hatred, disgust, and desperation.

"There is no one here!" Ella moaned, gesturing toward the room full of people.

"I don't know who to..." Se trailed off when she focused fully on Merlin.

"No," Merlin demanded, backing away when he saw the familiar, evil look in her eye.

"Yes," she ordered, grabbing his wrist and pulling him onto the floor.

"Um, higher up people aren't supposed to dance with servants..." Merlin muttered, as he tried to leave, which only made her tighten her grip on his wrist.

"Do I look like I care? I am dancing with you. You are dancing with me. Simple as that," she said, watching a nearby couple to see how they held their partner.

"Ok, so grab my hand. Then I put my hand on your shoulder and... Yes," she grinned as she figured it out.

"Now what?" Merlin asked, his face going slightly red as he caught sight of the king, who was grinning at him with that extremely annoying smirk.

"I have no idea," Ella started, just as the music began.

"Um, just do what they do," She ordered, motioning her head toward the nearest couple who was doing a simple step-step dance.

A couple of crushed toes and a few choice curses later, they had gotten the hang of it. It wasn't long after this that Merlin finally noticed Ella's pendant.

"What are you thinking, Ella? What if someone knows what it is?" He hissed, turning them away from an older couple who would have run into them sooner or later if they had not moved.

"It was Gwen. She saw it. I didn't mean for her to, but she did. And if I hid it, she would have suspected me. Just like the last one. The last one that suspected me almost got me burned at the stake. And that was when they didn't see the pendant," Ella protested, glancing at something over Merlin's shoulder.

"No, but they saw you. The," he looked around, then leaned in to whisper, "real you. Both of you."

"Touché," Ella laughed. "Not one of my better days, that's for sure. But it all turned out ok, right?"

"If you call being hunted in yet another kingdom ok, then sure."

She rolled her eyes. "You sure do know how to look on the bright side, don't you? You just need to calm down, loosen up."

But even as she said this, she gasped and whirled her head around to see behind her.

"What? What's wrong?" Merlin asked, craning his neck in the same direction.

"It's... Nothing. I just thought... Merlin, I don't feel safe. I think someone is watching me," she whispered, drawing her lips closer to his ear.

"Why does that matter? People watch you all the time, you know what it's like."

"No, Merlin. It's not like that. You're right, I'm used to people watching me. But what I'm not used to, is being watched without having a knife close by," she murmured, still looking around.

"Ella. You and I both know that you don't need a knife to protect yourself."

"Well, obviously. But not in this dress. I think it's safe to say that they didn't think to put a shifting invisibility charm on the fabric before they made this. And I don't think my 'other me' would work out too well if I was still in a dress, do you?"

He sheepishly shook his head. "No. I suppose not."

"See? You're learning. I'm so proud," she started to laugh, before turning to look over her shoulder again.

Before they knew it, the music had ended and the dance was over. All the men bowed and the women curtsied. Merlin and Ella faced each other.

"Well, I'm not curtsying to you. And you'd better not bow to me, or I'll crack your head as you go down."

They both chuckled, and just stood there for a second. Suddenly, Ella sucked in a deep, nervous breath.

"I can't take it. I need my knife. I'll be back in a second. Cover for me," She whispered, and began sneaking for the door.

Merlin tried to call after her, but he blinked and she was gone. He shook his head, and walked over to help move the tables for the feast.

About half an hour later, both the tables and the food was step up beautifully, the royals were seated, and everyone was more or less cheerful. Except Merlin. He just knew that Ella was going to pop out of nowhere and scare him, just like this morning. Suddenly, he heard a voice whispering his name. He turned to see Gwen.

"Where's Ella?" She mouthed.

He shrugged helplessly.

Gwen but her lip for a moment in thought, then leaned over and whispered something to Arthur. They spoke for a matter of seconds, before breaking apart. Gwen gave a slight nod, that he knew to take as a, 'go figure out where she is' nod.

He gave a nod of agreement and slid out of the door. He had a vague idea of where she could be. She had borrowed one of Gwen's dresses, and Gwen's chambers were one of the farther ones from the kitchen. He quickly set of, keeping an eye out for a hiding brunette.

But he was just a corner turn away from Gwen's chambers, and he had still seen nothing. So he cast one more look around before he turned the corner that lead right to the door.

And he gasped out loud at what he saw.

"Ella," he choked.

Because there she was: But there was something wrong. Instead of standing tall and proud, she was on her knees, with her head bent so low it was nearly on the ground and her arms wrapped tightly around her abdomen.

But there was something even worse that he realized as he ran towards her.

The once beautiful dress was in shreds, torn to pieces. As he ran up to her, he saw that there were deep, bleeding claw marks all along her arms, and he could see scrapes on her neck. He wanted to grab her by the shoulders and help her up, but he was afraid of hurting her even worse.

Ella's breaths were short and fast and the skin on her face was pale. Merlin reached out and gently cupped her chin and tilted her face to his.

"Ella," he whispered, "what happened? Can you tell me?"

She looked at him with wide eyes, still sucking in air. And very subtly, she nodded.

She took a deep breath, and removed one arm from her stomach, revealing the blood soaked hilt of a dagger.

**Aaaaaand... Plot twist! Ha ha! And I'm really sorry if it moved too fast. And tell you what, I'll make you a deal. You rate and review and I'll have it updated soon? Huh? What do ya say?**


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's note: Hello everyone! I am so sorry. I haven't written in weeks! I know, I'm a disgrace to all mankind and I should be punished. You have my sincerest apologies, because I didn't keep my promise of updating soon, and you guys rated and reviewed. I am so sorry. Oh well, no use delaying the inevitable. I have more written. And you must read it! Mwa ha ha! Bonus note, very important note at the end. Please read!**

**Ps: I was re-reading my last chapter and I realized that I wrote that the music started twice. Sorry, just pretend that the second time I said it, I really said that people started to dance. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Merlin or any of its characters. It belongs solely to whoever's name comes after 'writer' and 'owner' in the credits. I'm just too lazy to find out who. So, yeah. Onward!**

Chapter 12

Merlin closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After a moment, he opened them and addressed the situation.

"Ella, it's going to be ok. We're going to get you to Gaius' chambers, alright? You're going to be fine. Here,"Merlin said, putting an arm around her back to help.

"Merlin, please," Ella said with a groan. "You know me. Do you think this is the first time someone's tried to kill me? I'm an irritating, stuck up girl. People aren't exactly singing my praises."

"Who did this? Did you see their face?" Merlin asked, helping Ella stand.

Suddenly Ella gasped and fell forward.

"Of course. He used poison on the blade. Should have guessed. Rendom, by the feel of it." Ella said.

"Who rendom put on the knife?" Merlin asked, trying to look at her as he helped her down the hall. But Ella had already convulsed again and just shook her head. They had made it to Gaius' chambers, when Merlin saw a small serving girl.

"You. Go to the king and tell him that someone tried to murder the queens guest of honor," he ordered. The girl jumped, and ran off towards the banquet hall.

"It's ok, Ella," he said as he opened the door. "Gaius, I need help. She's lost a lot of blood, and says she's been poisoned with rendom," Merlin said, leading Ella over towards the work table. Soon, she was laying on her back, coughing and shaking violently.

"Can you help her?" Merlin asked as Gaius started to examine her.

"Yes, the knife wound I can fix. Here, hand me that knife, the needle and the thread," Gauis ordered.

Merlin grabbed them and handed them towards the older man. Gaius took the knife, and carefully cut out the fabric around the dagger.

"Ella, this is going to hurt," Merlin warned. She nodded and her jawline tightened.

Gaius pulled out the dagger in one swift motion, which caused Ella to gasp. Gaius quickly cleaned the wound, and stitched it up neatly. He had just clipped the thread, when the door flew open to reveal Arthur and Gwen. When Gwen saw Ella, she gasped and ran over.

"Gwen. I'm so sorry," Ella said, reaching for the queen.

"Ella it's ok," Gwen said, stroking her forehead. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Just look at it!" Ella shrieked. "I ruined your dress!"

"Ella, don't worry about the dress," Gwen murmured, trying to calm her down.

"No! It's ruined! It was so pretty. Now my blood got all over it, and there's a big hole in the middle and... I'm just so sorry, I ruin everything!" Ella said, and to the surprise of everyone, started to cry.

"Gaius, what's wrong?" Arthur asked, as he stared at Ella in shock.

"The blade had rendom on it. A poison that directly affects the brain. It causes the victim to lose all control of themselves," Gaius explained.

Suddenly, it all made sense. Ella's attacker didn't want to kill her. They needed her to lose control, and she would get herself killed. It was a simple, but deadly plan. Merlin's eyes widened. He walked over, and pulled Gauis aside.

"Gaius, all of you need to leave. Now. It's not safe. Once the rendom really takes affect, she's going to lose control. _All_ of her," Merlin whispered, so the others wouldn't hear.

Gaius nodded as he understood. He turned to speak with the king.

"Sire, I'm sorry, but I need you to leave. I have to help my patient," he said, facing Arthur.

"Of course," he said, nodding. "Will she be ok?"

"Once I can get her the help she needs."

Another nod. "I understand. Come on, Gwen," he said putting a hand on her shoulder. She continued to sit for a moment, then nodded and stood up. Arthur put an arm around her, and they walked out.

"Gaius, we don't have much time," Merlin said. "You need to leave, now. Go in the opposite direction of Arthur. And whatever you do, don't come back until morning."

Gaius nodded and put a hand on Merlin's shoulder. "Just be careful."

"I will."

Gaius nodded again, walked out of the door, and disappeared down the hall. Merlin walked up to the door. He muttered a spell, and the door was bound shut. He took a deep breath, and turned to face Ella.

Her eyes were squeezed shut. Her face and neck were beaded in sweat, and the veins in her neck were sticking out in an attempt to remain in control. Her breath was coming short and fast and her hands were clenched into fists.

But it was her necklace that Merlin was most concerned about. The silver was giving off a faint, unsteady light and the moonstones were flashing irregularly in time to her heartbeat. Fortunately the amethyst hasn't started to glow, which showed he still had time. He quickly held out his hands over Ella's body and started to murmur one of the first spells that he had learned, the shifting invisibility charm. There was no denying what was going to happen, so he might as well help.

Once the spell was complete, he turned and started stacking all of Gaius' things as high as he could. When everything was more or less secure, he did a basic protection charm. It was the best he could do.

"Merlin?" Ella choked from behind him. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Slowly, he faced her.

The silver in the pendant had a faint glow that was shining from her sweat soaked bodice. The moonstones had stopping blinking, and each had a steady, glowing light that merged with the next to form a silver ring of light. But in the middle of it all, was the amethyst. It soon like the moon with an intense, purple light.

Time was almost up.

Ella looked down at the pendant, then up at Merlin with wide eyes. She swallowed and whispered, "I'm sorry."

Her eyes squeezed shut, and time seemed to stand still. Suddenly, she took a deep, sharp breath and her eyes flew open.

The once happily teasing hazel eyes were gone. Instead they were replaced with two, hard, icy blue eyes. She let out an inhuman scream that reminded Merlin to cast a silencing spell around the room.

Merlin took a deep breath. "Ella, you're going to be ok. I'm here. We can get through this together. I'm not going I leave you, I promise."

By now Ella was convulsing violently. She rolled onto her stomach and rose until she was on her hands and knees. Her fingers curled until her nails bit into the wood. She bent her head towards the table, sweat dripping off her forehead. Her breathing was labored. Vaguely, Merlin could see her pendant swinging around her neck. Any second it could happen.

And suddenly, it did. All of the light from the pendant burst, and melted into a single color. The color of shadows. Of black on black. The dark of the moon. It was time.

The moment the color exploded from the pendant, it began.

Ella's arms seemed to grow, larger and stronger. Her legs lengthened, and started to bend in different places. Feet and hands grew into paws. Fingernails sharpened into claws.

Her dress seemed to melt to her very body. Thick brown fur took the place of skin. Her body lowered and her torso lengthened. A long tail thrashed around in an attempt to stay balanced.

Her head grew, with tall, awake ears replacing the small ones. Her nose and mouth seemed to fuse into a single thing. Large, sharp teeth grew in place of the neat, square ones. Suddenly, the creature stopped. The transformation was complete.

The wolf that was once Ella turned with a snarl to face the mighty Emrys.

**Ta da! I know, I do quite like plot twists. If you consider this a plot twist. Which I do, in my funny little mind. :) Just to clear a few things up; Rendom, is not a real poison. I made it up. As far as I know, it's not even a word. And second, Ella is NOT a werewolf. I promise I'll explain somewhere in the next few chapters. And third, yes, Gaius knows about Ella. Merlin told him, I just didn't think it was important enough to devote a chapter to. **

**So that's it. Rate and review, yada yada yada. Farewell!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's note: Greetings, my loyal servants. **

**I mean readers. **

**Sorry, I haven't written in a while. I meant to update a couple weeks ago. But I didn't. Because I'm a lazy person. So to make it up to you, I tried to make this chapter longer. And I was re reading my last chapter, I realized that I made an error. I wrote 'who rendom put' instead of 'who put rendom'. Sorry about that. An amateur mistake. For that I apologize. I am very sorry. Oh well, I have more written. And well, here it is. **

**Disclaimer: Sadly, I still don't own Merlin.**

Chapter 13

"Ella, you can do this, I promise. It will be ok, I swear," Merlin said, slowly turning his back to the wall, never breaking eye contact with Ella.

Rendom was one of the first poisons he had learned about. It was a watered down version of the more intense mind poisons, the hold on the mind lasting a few hours at most. More than enough time for Ella to lose control, attack, and be caught and killed for her crimes. That is, if Merlin hadn't found her. Now, the only problem was making sure they both survived the night. Which was easier said than done.

Ella quickly turned around to continue to face him, lips pulled back in a snarl. Merlin slowly raised his hands in a surrendering position, as he started to walk backward. Ella watched him, never making a move. Merlin felt his back hit the wall. He was trapped. Ella snarled and leaped for his chest. He quickly ducked and rolled out of the way, feeling what seemed a slight scratch on his forehead.

He jumped away, turning around to face her again, mentally checking himself over. He couldn't feel anything. Not even a cut. Not with the adrenaline in his system. Much better than he had expected to be left off with. The wolf whirled around, growling in frustration.

Suddenly, Merlin was struck with an unexpected, painful memory of Freya. The shock of the once bright, clever eyes, dulled with the power of vengeful magic. The fear in her face as she turned back. The horror as the pain of what she had done hit her.

Blinking back the pain, he faced the girl he had considered his sister for years. No matter how similar they seemed, they were not the same. Freya's was nothing more than a bitter curse. Ella was born like this. She was always like this, and she always would be. Would always be a shifter.

Ella threw her head back and howled. Merlin stood for a moment, trying to catch his breath. But all too soon, she was back on the hunt, out for blood. She ran towards him, barely leaving him with enough time to jump to the side.

Merlin hit the corner, and started to run for the other wall, all the while calculating how much longer the rendom could hold. She had been missing from the feast for under an hour, but she had been recovering for longer than that. The overall transformation time had taken roughly taken just under an hour. And the hunt had lasted what felt like years, but was likely only a few minutes. So the rendom would have fully left her system in roughly an hour. But then again, Ella was Ella. There was no telling how long it would take her.

Merlin turned again, ducking just in time from a death blow. Ella growled in frustration, whirling around to face him. Suddenly, she seemed to convulse. She shook her head and started to back away. She looked up, staring him dead in the eyes. Merlin felt a small smile cross his face. For a moment, he saw her. Her real eyes, cleared of any poison. But after a second, the same dull look has replaced them. But that one moment was all he needed to give him hope. Leave it up to Ella to fight off the poison in just under a few hours, using pure determination and willpower.

But the hopeful moment seemed to crash as Ella leaped for him before he had fully focused. He screamed as her claws sunk into his arms, leaving long scratches along his inner fore arm. Fortunately, she stopped just short of the veins in his wrists.

Merlin rolled away, doing his best to apply pressure to the wounds. He glanced up to see Ella thrashing around, having a silent war with herself. The poison effects were wearing off. Or, in Ella's case, being forced off. Without warning, she leaped for him, catching him by the shoulder. In his slower, hurt state she caught him, pinning him by the chest with her paws. He tried to cry out, but she had knocked all the wind from his lungs. He closed his eyes, waiting to feel her teeth sink into him. But suddenly the pressure on his chest lifted and he cautiously opened his eyes to see Ella. The real, human Ella.

Well, the halfway human. The transformation back to human was always faster. She had almost fully changed back. Her body had a more human look. But her fur was still merging to her skin. Her ears moved until they had soft curves instead of the rough jaggedness. Her eyes tilted back down, and her nose and mouth separated back to their normal places.

Finally the course fur had become skin, and her dress had reappeared from the invisibility shifting spell. But as soon as it had appeared, Ella ripped away the skirt at the knees.

She rolled into a ball, the ripped off skirt of her dress lying around her, showing her fingernails digging into the flesh of her calves.

Merlin started to get up, before realizing that the poison was still in her system and that she could still be dangerous.

So the two of them sat, Ella panting in her effort to stay human. Merlin sitting, building up the energy to run in case Ella lost her battle.

But the hours passed and Ella stayed in control, finally releasing her now bleeding calves. Merlin stood, knowing that the worst was over. He walked over to her, and gently picked her up. She weakly tried to push him away, but soon give up the effort. He carried her over to the patients bed, and carefully set her down. He walked over to the shelves and began pulling down various potions and herbs. He walked back over and started to apply them to Ella's various cuts and cleaned her knife wound again. Finally, Ella managed to speak.

"Merlin, your arms..." she said, pointing towards the cuts.

He looked down in surprise, as though he had forgotten them. He looked back up at her with a smile, then suddenly a look of horror covered his face.

"Merlin, what's wrong..." She started to ask, but he had already run to his room. Within seconds, he had run back, carrying a new jacket.

"It's morning. Arthur doesn't know what's been going on. I still have work," he said, pulling off his other jacket and hurriedly applying bandages to his cuts. Once that was done, he pulled on the other non ruined jacket.

"Merlin, you can't expect to go to work like this! He knows you, Merlin. Arthur, no matter how daft he is, will know something's wrong," Ella argued, sitting up.

"He hasn't before," Merlin said simply. "Gaius should be here soon. Tell him that I've dressed your cuts, and that you're completely harmless. And that I've gone to work. I'll see you when I get done."

Suddenly Ella realized that he hadn't realized that he was still hurt. The wound that he thought was nothing more than a simple scratch on his forehead...

"Merlin! Your head!" She called after him.

But before she could do anything, he ran out the door, missing what she had tried to tell him. She fell back, desperately trying to think clearly through her poison addled brain. She couldn't let him do this. He had done so much, and he didn't even get a day off.

That was going to change. He wasn't going to continue to give everything, and not get any thanks. Not if she could help it.

She felt exhausted from the poison encounter and a night fighting. Mentally and physically.

Merlin must be equally, if not more exhausted. He had worked all day yesterday, then carried her to Gaius, helped treat her, and then spent the whole night fighting her. Not only that, he had lost large amounts of blood. He couldn't keep it up for much longer, no matter how blind Arthur was to all of it. He was sure to notice. In fact... Ella smiled. She would _make_ him notice.

Meanwhile, Merlin stumbled into the kitchen, hurriedly grabbing the breakfast for the king and queen. One of the serving girls turned to him with a smile that quickly turned to shock.

"Merlin... Your face..." She breathed.

But Merlin was already out of the door. Minutes later, he arrived at the kings doors. He looked himself over and nodded, convinced that no signs of the war last night could be seen. He took a deep breath, and opened the door.

"Morning!" He called out in his normal, cheery tone.

He was later than he had thought. Both of them had already woken up. They had been sitting on the bed, talking when he came in. Arthur just rolled his eyes, and got up for the breakfast Merlin had left on the table before he walked over to the windows to open the curtains.

Gwen on the other hand, turned around to face Merlin.

"How's Ella?" She asked.

"Good," he answered, opening the last curtain before turning around.

Gwen gasped as she saw his face. "Merlin. What happened?"

"What do you mean?" He asked, confused.

She slowly walked over to him. He watched her curiously as she reached out her hand and touched him gently on the forehead. He let out a gasp as he felt a rush of pain. When the world came back in focus, he saw Gwen holding out three blood stained fingers. Merlin's eyes widened as he remembered. The so called scratch... Ella's crying after him about his head... The serving girl...

He jerked away, and walked toward the mirror hanging on the wall. But just before he saw himself, he closed his eyes, afraid of what he would see. He paused, then opened them.

And nearly fell back in shock. There was a long cut about his right eye, just shy of his right temple. Having not known it was there, it had been bleeding throughout the night, and the entire right of his face was streaked red.

Meanwhile, Ella was breathing hard, mentally pulling together all of her magic. She had remembered that while Merlin and her were children, they being magic, could communicate telepathically like most magic users. However, the effort tired them, so they couldn't do it for very long. They did use it to their advantage, though. When the other couldn't sleep, they would send them a hard, fast hit of magic. No words, just a single hard hit. The mental hit didn't hurt them, but drained their magic, leaving them exhausted and asleep almost instantly. They thought it fun then, but it was a miracle now.

Ella had figured that Arthur would have seen Merlin's face by now. He would know something was wrong, and would ask questions. Merlin would try to get out of it, to say he was fine. Then, he would get a mental hit, would fall unconscious, get rushed to Gauis' chambers, and right to Ella. And once they got to Ella, Merlin could finally catch a break. Ella continued to gather her magic and she smiled as she felt everything fall into place.

Merlin turned around to come face to face with Arthur.

"Merlin, what happened?" He asked, in a hard voice.

Merlin's mind raced, trying to come up with a story. He turned away, trying to buy more time.

"Tell me the truth," Arthur said, reaching out and taking his shoulder, in an attempt to force him to turn around. But in trying to do so, he had just ripped away the bandages from the cuts under Merlin's jacket. Merlin let out a scream of pain, and Arthur jerked away, staring the blood seeping through the fabric.

Ella smiled. It was ready. Taking a deep breath, she released it. The pure power of her magic. Heading right for Merlin.

Merlin opened his mouth to try to explain, when it hit him. The familiar, mental hit. He smiled, realizing what Ella had done. There was no resistance. Only a soft whisper of 'Sorry' before his eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell into a dark, mental oblivion.

**Well, that's it! Hope that this is enough for you to forgive me for taking so long to update! I love you all and thanks so much for reading!**


End file.
